ISRAEL: Navy preparing to block flotilla of activists determined to reach Gaza

[wildcard]

link (http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/babylonbeyond/2010/05/israel-navy-preparing-to-block-flotilla-of-activists-determined-to-reach-gaza.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+BabylonBeyond+%28Babylon+%26+ Beyond+Blog%29)

ISRAEL: Navy preparing to block flotilla of activists determined to reach Gaza


May 28, 2010 | 1:06 pm

The eight-ship flotilla is determined to break through the naval blockade and reach Gaza. Israel is just as determined this isn't going to happen. Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman said Friday that the aid convoy was violent propaganda and that "Israel will not allow its sovereignty to be threatened in any way, in any place -- land, air or sea."

What might become a standoff at sea will have been preceded by a standoff of narratives via the Internet and media, which ultimately will declare the winner of the duel. Meanwhile, there seemed to be a ghost in the machinery -- technical problems held up one of the boats taking part in the sail, resulting in a delay. Greta Berlin of Free Gaza told Israeli media the flotilla's departure was postponed until Saturday morning in an effort to avoid a late-night encounter with the navy. Israeli TV reported Friday evening that the navy was setting out in a few hours anyway.

continues at link with vid.

[wildcard]

UK aloof on Israel's flotilla threat
Sat, 29 May 2010 07:16:05 GMT


The British Foreign Office has failed to respond to Israel's threat to intercept the Gaza Freedom Flotilla despite the presence of 28 Britons aboard the convoy.

The Foreign Office's failure comes despite letters and emails from concerned activists campaigning for the safety of passengers on board the Gaza Freedom Flotilla.

The Gaza Freedom Flotilla is due to arrive in Gaza on May 29 and consists of 9 vessels, 10,000 tons of aid and reconstruction materials, and 750 politicians and activists from over 40 countries across the world.

The aim of the flotilla is to take much needed aid and materials to Gaza which Israel has either banned outright, or allowed to enter Gaza in insufficient quantities.

Tel Aviv, however, has declared it will prevent the fleet from reaching Gaza, and cut off the convoy at sea in international waters.

The UK Foreign Office's apathy comes despite the illicit nature of Israel's announcement that, according to analysts, will pose a danger to the British passengers on board the boats.

The Israeli navy is also reportedly on alert amid media reports indicating Tel Aviv's plans for the arrest and transfer of all the peace activists to the city of Ashdod where a makeshift interrogation facility has been set up.

All activists are expected to be either deported or jailed.

Ismail Patel, chair of Friends of al-Aqsa, who is also with the convoy, says, "Israel bans goods such as fresh fruit juice, tinned fruit and coriander form entering the Strip -- what security justification can there ever be for that?"

"It also fails abysmally to allow adequate medical equipment in. The cargo we are taking with us includes a full dental clinic, wheelchairs for the hundreds who have been left severely injured by Israel's war on Gaza and its intermittent bombing of the area," he said.

"If Israel is allowed to intercept these ships without our governments intervening, then it is a clear signal that they are placing their political concerns for keeping Israel and its supporters happy above and beyond the safety of its own citizens. This is wholly unacceptable for a government which is supposed to represent its nationals and ensure their protection," he went on adding.

[Large Sarge]

lot of very brave people to try that

Remember when Cynthia Mc.Kinney did it, and they rammed her boat (I think they sunk it)

and then arrested her, held her for awhile (days at least)

[wildcard]

Someone on GLP is saying that Turkey has vowed to protect the flotilla. If true then this should be interesting.

[wildcard]

http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5hgp4mrgzcwSQ03onJvjEDsMiszFQ

Flotilla ready to bust Gaza aid blockade


By Charlie Charalambous (AFP) – 1 hour ago

NICOSIA — An aid flotilla bound for Gaza in defiance of an Israeli embargo was poised to set sail on Saturday, after a delay caused by technical snags and fears Israel might seize one of the ships, organisers said.

Hundreds of activists waiting in international waters off Cyprus were bracing for the final leg of their attempt to bust the Gaza Strip embargo -- a bid Israel has vowed to thwart.

But organisers were still trying to haggle with the Cypriot authorities before midday on Saturday to try to arrange the transfer to the flotilla of a group of 25 multi-national parliamentarians waiting on the island.

"We are currently sailing to the limits of Cypriot waters to try and negotiate with authorities," Thomas Sommer-Houdeville, a French pro-Palestinian activist on board one of the vessels, said.

The Cyprus authorities "last night (Friday) detained the captains of boats that were trying to take the MPs on board," he told AFP by telephone, adding that the mariners were released shortly afterwards.

Organisers have accused the Cyprus government of reneging on an earlier agreement to let the flotilla sail from Cyprus waters, alleging Israeli pressure which Nicosia has denied.

The flotilla had originally been due to sail on Friday.

"We won't begin leaving until Saturday but the boats are still going," Audrey Bomse of the Free Gaza Movement that organised the multi-national flotilla told AFP on Friday.

"We've changed the coordinates twice because reportedly Israel has threatened to capture the Turkish ship so we decided to delay getting all the boats together," she added.

"This has delayed everything by a day because changing coordinates takes time... There were also technical difficulties with one of the boats so we had to move passengers from it on to the Turkish one," Bomse said.

Two cargo ships and five smaller boats loaded with thousands of tonnes of supplies and hundreds of passengers are planning the blockade-busting run for the Palestinian territory.

Organisers said an eighth ship, the Rachel Corrie en route from Ireland, was lagging behind and would travel towards Gaza separately.

Israel has said it "issued warrants that prohibit the entrance of the vessels to Gaza" and that the flotilla would be breaking international law.

It intends to intercept the boats and detain those on board in the port of Ashdod before deporting them.

Israel imposed a crippling blockade on Gaza in 2007 after Hamas -- an Islamist movement committed to the destruction of Israel -- seized power in the impoverished and overcrowded Palestinian territory.

Because of the blockade, only limited reconstruction has been possible in the wake of a devastating 22-day offensive Israel launched on December 27, 2008.

Activists have landed in Gaza five times, with another three attempts unsuccessful since their first such sea voyage in August 2008, all of them from Cyprus.

To date, the aid has been largely symbolic, but organisers say the flotilla now under way is laden with 10,000 tonnes of aid, ranging from pre-fabricated homes to pencils.

[wildcard]

Breaking the Israeli Siege of Gaza: Attack at Sea, Detention Camps and Deportation Await


By Ann Wright

By the time you read this, we will be on the high seas of the Mediterranean (we hope the seas will not be too high).

Our two U.S. flagged Free Gaza boats, will join two other passenger ships, a 600 passenger ship from Turkey sponsored by the Turkish humanitarian organization, Insani Yardim Vakfi (IHH) and a 50 passenger ship from Athens sponsored by the European Campaign Against the Siege and the Greek/Swedish Ships to Gaza campaign, to sail to the shores of Gaza to break the Israeli naval blockade of the 1.5 million citizens in Gaza.

Four cargo ships from Ireland, Greece, Algeria and Turkey, will carry a total of 10,000 tons or 2 million pounds of construction materials for the housing of 50,000 made homeless during the 22 day Israeli attack on Gaza that killed 1440 Palestinians and wounded 5,000.

Many of us would like to see our boat renamed “The Audacity of Hope” as that is what we want to see from the Obama administration– courage to challenge the Israeli government on the siege of Gaza. It would be a really brave, bold move as every U.S. presidential administration since the formation of the State of Israeli in 1948 has blindly given free-rein to Israel in whatever actions it wishes to undertake no matter if the actions are a violation of international law. The carte blanche given to Israel by the United States has been dangerous for Israel’s national security as well as for the national security of the United States.

Probable reaction of Israeli Navy Ships-Bow shots, ramming or boarding

In less than 48 hours, the Israeli Navy will probably fire U.S. made ammunition and rockets in international waters over the bows of two U.S. flagged boats and one Greek boat with U.S. citizens aboard as well as citizens from 13 other countries and over the bows of the Turkish 600 passenger ship.

Ironically, on one passenger ship will be Joe Meaders, a U.S. citizen who is a survivor of the Israeli air and naval attack on a United States Navy ship, the USS Liberty, in 1967 killed 34 U.S. sailors and wounded 173. The Israeli government has never acknowledged, much less apologized for, the deaths of these sailors, nor the destruction of the USS Liberty.

According to Israeli media (http://www.jpost.com/Israel/Article.aspx?id=176491), the Israeli military is preparing for our arrival off the shores of Gaza. The Israeli navy has been practicing its plan for preventing us from docking in Gaza, a plan that probably includes demanding by radio that the ships change course away from Gaza, firing weapons in front of the ships, ramming the ships and sending well-armed boarding parties onto the ships.

Israelis prepare a detention camp

As our 8 ship flotilla prepares to depart Greece and Turkey to break the Israeli naval blockade of Gaza, the Israeli military is preparing a detention camp for the flotilla’s 700 delegates from 20 countries who are passengers on four of the ships.

Those passengers include Hedy Epstein, an 85-year-old holocaust survivor, Parliamentarians from Germany and Ireland, two former diplomats from the United States, a retired U.S. Army Colonel, authors, journalists, activists, businesspersons and clergy.

Additionally, the military has identified a warehouse in the Ashelod area, just over Gaza’s northern border that will be used to detain the 700 passengers on the 8 ships.

Taking a page from the New York City police who put over 1,500 persons into a filthy, unclean warehouse on a pier in New York City during the 2004 Republican convention, the Israeli government no doubt will make the surroundings as difficult as possible for us.

The Israeli government has extensive experience in warehousing dissent, as over 10,000 Palestinians are in Israeli jails and prisons, including juveniles who are arrested regularly in nighttime raids in villages of the West Bank.

20 passengers on the May, 2009 Free Gaza boat trying to break the siege were imprisoned for 10 days before they were deported from Israel. They included Nobel Peace Laureate Mairead Maguire and former U.S. Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney.

Wish us luck as we challenge the Israeli, Egyptian, European Union and United State’s unlawful siege and collective punishment of 1.5 million Palestinians in Gaza!

What will you do to help break the siege of Gaza?

[ximmy]

updates and interactive map here...

http://www.witnessgaza.com/

[Shami-Amourae]

Even Michael Moore is on the good guys side:

http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latest-news/israeli-gunships-head-sea-block-flotilla

Amazing.

[Ponce]

Yesterday I posted something about the Turkish air force protecting the group, if the Israeli try to stop the boats outside of the state of Israel waters then the protectors have the right to do something about it........but of course it then means war.

[Brent]

The "Jew-lovers" (If they want to make silly labels so can I) seem to pick and choose which stories they will comment on. Strange how that works, almost as if they are ignoring certain truths that just might conflict with their tightly held viewpoints.

[wildcard]

Right you are Brent. You don't hear their hater speeches in these threads.

[old steel]

Lets see, Turkey is a NATO country, USA is a NATO country.

With push coming to shove and Israel stopping the flotilla through force by coming to blows with Turkey isn't the USA obliged through the NATO pact to defend Turkey against the aggressor, Israel in this case?

[cigarlover]

Israel has an embargo on Gaza. This flotilla is attempting to break through that embargo.

The US has an Embargo on Cuba. Lets test this and send a huge flotilla to Cuba and see if the US enforces it. If they do then is every American a zionist?

[wildcard]

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/world/2010-05/30/c_13322946.htm

Palestinians seek world pressure on Israel to let aid convoy into Gaza

2010-05-30 03:09:21


by Saud Abu Ramadan, Emad Drimly

GAZA, May 29 (Xinhua) -- The Palestinians on Saturday intensified their calls for the international community to pressure on Israel to allow the international aid convoy "Freedom Flotilla" to reach the shores of the Gaza Strip.

The Israeli "Sky Winds" operation, planned by the Israeli naval forces, to stop the Freedom Flotilla fleet of ships from reaching Gaza shores, outraged the Palestinians, mainly officials in the deposed Hamas government, who called the Israeli operation a "real piracy."

Ismail Haneya, premier of the deposed government of Hamas, called on the international community "to confront the Israeli piracy and back the fleet of ships to reach Gaza," adding that " the free people in the world should break the siege which will bring painful consequences to those who impose it."

Haneya, who visited Gaza's only harbor to inspect the renovations his government made to receive the aid fleet, noted " the siege imposed on the Gaza Strip will break soon, even if Israel prevented Freedom Flotilla from reaching the territory."

Meanwhile, Ahmed Assaf, spokesman of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah party, told Xinhua the Israeli attempt to prevent Freedom Flotilla from reaching the Gaza Strip "is a real piracy," adding that "Israel always considers itself as the state which can act above the law."

"The Israeli policies, whether to impose a siege on the Gaza Strip or prevent humanitarian aid and people from entering the blockade strip, are part of its general policy of suffocating the Palestinians," said Assaf, adding that his group supports any effort "to end the unfair Israeli siege."

Israel has been imposing a tight blockade on the Gaza Strip since the Islamic movement seized control of the enclave by force in June 2007. The Israeli blockade affected the daily economic life of the population, though Israel said it allows humanitarian aid into Gaza.

Jamal al-Khudari, chief of the Gaza-based Popular Committee to Challenge Israeli Siege, told reporters on Saturday that the Freedom Flotilla fleet is expected to reach Gaza City's shores on Sunday morning.

In the meanwhile, the European Campaign, one of Flotilla's organizers to defy the Israeli siege imposed on the Gaza Strip, announced that Israel has already begun to obstruct the fleet by jamming the wireless communication of the Flotilla ships.

Amin Abu Rashed, member of the campaign, said the Israeli authorities try to jam the wireless communications of the six ships, adding that "some technicians on board of the ships are trying to overcome the Israeli attempt."

He added in a statement sent to reporters that it will be decided later on Saturday whether the Freedom Flotilla will arrive at Gaza shores on Sunday afternoon or Monday morning, "putting in consideration that the arrival of the ships has to be during the daytime."

The Freedom Flotilla includes a huge Kuwaiti commercial ship which hoisted the flags of Turkey and Kuwait, a ship funded by Algeria, a third ship funded by Sweden and Greece and five other vessels with around 700 people coming from 40 countries.

The fleet comprising nine ships carry 10,000 tons of humanitarian aid, including medicines, construction materials, woods, and 100 housing caravans for dozens of homeless Gazans who lost their houses during the Israeli Cast Lead last year.

As the ships started to sail towards the Gaza shores, the Israeli naval forces were on alert to intercept the fleet and prevent them from reaching Gaza.

Earlier, Israel Radio quoted commanders of the Israeli naval forces as saying that they would prevent the fleet from reaching Gaza by all means.

The commanders said the naval forces will first warn the ships, and if they defy the warnings, the forces will seize the fleet, ask all the passengers to return to their own countries and transfer the aid to Gaza Strip, Israel Radio reported.

[Large Sarge]

Israel has an embargo on Gaza. This flotilla is attempting to break through that embargo.

The US has an Embargo on Cuba. Lets test this and send a huge flotilla to Cuba and see if the US enforces it. If they do then is every American a zionist?


many many countries send Aid to Cuba, Venezuela is a recent example.

No One Sends Aid to Palestine

Whether you are from sweden, norway, USA, Ireland, Egypt, etc

does not matter

no one gets in

I can goto any caribbean country (besides Cuba) and from there get a direct flight/boat ride to Cuba

the embargo with Cuba is one to one

the thing (its much more than an embargo, its genocide) with palestine is worldwide

[cigarlover]

I'm not up on my ME history So excuse the ignorance but why doesnt Jordan send aid or anyone else in the ME for that matter?

[Large Sarge]

Book has a better picture of Israel

but this works

we are talking about Gaza

[Large Sarge]

I'm not up on my ME history So excuse the ignorance but why doesnt Jordan send aid or anyone else in the ME for that matter?


Egypt has sealed the border with Gaza

the palestinians have made tunnels to get around the egyptian walls/barricades, to go into Egypt and buy fuel, clothes, food, etc

the only real way into Gaza (besides Israel) is by sea

[wildcard]

I'm not up on my ME history So excuse the ignorance but why doesnt Jordan send aid or anyone else in the ME for that matter?


I could be wrong, but I don't think the Jordanians are as oil rich as some of the other Arab nations in the area. I watched some 30 min documentary on the Jordanian King and it seems he spends most of his time flying around in his military helicopter. Although I doubt they have much love for israel, they are helpless against U.S. funded/armed/backed israel.

*apparently he's married to a Palestinian woman. He is a puppet of the west though.

**oh yeah he's bought and paid for:


Following the outbreak of fighting between Israel and Palestinians in the Second Intifada in September 2000, the Jordanian government offered its offices to both parties. Jordan has since sought to remain at peace with all of its neighbors. Particularly good relations have been maintained between the Jordanian royal family and Israel, with the Jordanian government frequently dispersing rallies and jailing demonstrators protesting against Israeli actions. The government also censors anti-Israeli views from the Jordanian news media.